Dundee nurse faces charges of sexual assault inside prison

A prison nurse is alleged to have carried out sex attacks inside a high-security jail.

Mumtaz Mohammed Hussain denies carrying out the offences against men at Perth Prison over a two-year period.

He was due to go on trial at Perth Sheriff Court yesterday morning but solicitor Jim Laverty revealed he would be unable to represent him.

Hussain, 48, of Mayfield Grove, Dundee, is accused of sexually assaulting a 29-yearold man in Perth Prison on February 23 by touching him on the bottom.

He is also alleged to have sexually assaulted a 27-yearold man on various occasions between February 18 and March 1 last year by repeatedly touching his bottom.

It is further alleged Hussain repeatedly directed unwanted sexual comments towards the second man over a two-year period from March 1 2017.

That charge alleges Hussain directed sexual comments towards the man “for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification or for humiliating, distressing or alarming” him.

The alleged victims cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Hussain denies all of the charges.

The trial was put off yesterday and rescheduled for May.

Mr Laverty said one of the people named in the charges was known to him but he had not recognised the alleged victim’s name on the witness list until the morning of the trial.

Mr Laverty told the court: “I have probably been in this gentleman’s company 30 or 40 times in the last two years.”

Alternative representation will be sought for Hussain before his next court date.